As Mitchell Interchange nears completion, another project unveiled

MILWAUKEE — The Department of Transportation recently announced a huge construction project on the same stretch of road as the nearly completed Mitchell Interchange. The DOT plans to overhaul 13 bridges over I-43 in Milwaukee County just north of the Mitchell Interchange to just south of the Marquette Interchange.

“They’re going to rehab the decks of a lot of the bridges, do painting and other maintenance work,” Michael Pyritz with the Department of Transportation said.

That could mean more headaches for drivers who say they are at their tipping point.

“There’s just going to be so much construction. It’s going to bother me. They just did construction on my road, and I couldn’t even get to my house, and that just bothered me,” driver Kayla Aschenbrenner said.

“That’s terrible. Terrible. Just going to be more and more traffic all the time, traffic jams, not going to be able to go anywhere,” Micah Saxton said.

The DOT says they will do their best to minimize headaches.

“They are going to stagger the work so no one large area is completely blocked off,” Pyritz said.

There will be a public meeting on the project on Tuesday, July 31 at the United Community Center at 1028 South 9th Street in Milwaukee.

Construction is slated to start next year.

The DOT says the project will help avoid gridlock when work begins on the Hoan Bridge and Zoo Interchange projects slated to begin next year.